Does anyone know what to do to get rid of the white stones that appear in your throat? My doc said it comes from my tonsils.They make my breath smell bad and they irritate my throat. It is not strep throat. Please help. Thank you.
sunshine5050

I usually just gargle with salt water, but most times I feel they just have to kind of come out on their own. Some people use a water pik, but that made my tonsils bleed. (I guess for some who use the 'tongue attachment' though it is softer on the tonsils.)

It is being thought of lately by many that their is a misconception with the stones causing bad breath though...I mean these stones don't smell usually until they are crushed. You may want to explore other possibilities to the bad breath aside from just the stones. (this is highly debated but it makes sense since I have had stones since I was very young and never had complaints of bad breath..) I would see an ENT if your throat is irritated so they can examine.

Until I had my tonsils removed 6 years ago I had nasty tonsil stones. And yes, I was concerned with bad breath. I don't know HOW many times I'd be talking, sitting there and one would pop out and I'd accidentally mash it with my teeth or tongue. And they smelled putrid. The ENT who removed my tonsils indicated that the infection (white gunk) was sooooo deep that he had to remove about a golf ball size hunk of stuff from the right side of my throat. Can't help but think healthwise, I'm much better off without those nasty infected things.

My husband has these. On a pretty regular basis, he pushes them out with the end of a Q-tip (cotton removed). He's very careful, and it's a regular part of his routine now. He was checked out by an ENT, assured it's nothing to be concerned about, and now just deals with it. I agree with the notion, though, that the gunk seems a good thing to be without.

I have them. About once a week I use a small cleaned nail device to pick them out. If I don't they get bigger and bigger. They do smell and are so nasty!! My ENT says he would take out my tonsils for me whenever I want, but I think I'd rather just keep digging than put myself through more surgery. I've had 3 sinus surgeries in the last 2 years and in two weeks I have my 4th and hopefully final sinus surgery. This one is major surgery, not outpatient. So, little tonsil rocks don't bother me all that much. Just keep digging them out if you can and brush teeth often. Digging them out can cause tonsils to bleed easily, but I always gargle mouth wash afterwards to kill any bacteria and the bleeding stops easily and I've never had issues with soreness, or infection after doing it. So, be careful and be clean however you pick these nasty things out, lol!

my moms a dentist and says tonsil stones are a combination of plaque and mucus the best way to reduce them is by brushing like you should and also make sure u brush your tongue good i dont know if its true but when i didnt brush my tongue i got them a lot when i started brushing it instead of just using mouth wash i got them a lot less you can try that and if that doesnt work its always picking them out

i had this too. my doctor called it "cheese"
i had to get my tonsils and adenoids removed.
when the ENT took the tonsils out she said they literally exploded open with tons and tons of the stuff...
no matter how much you pick at it, theres tons still in there

I just went to the ENT and explained that I've gargled with salt water, mouthwash and nothing seems to help. I was also concerned because my tonsils actually started to bleed a little bit when one of those suckers would break off. When he removed mine he indicated the tonsils were FULL of infection that went very deep. The right side was much bigger than the left -- about the size of a golf ball. Believe he also referred to it as a cheese like substance. Bleah!

I first had tonsil stones in college 20 years ago. I found that i got them when i drank coffee and sometimes just when i got stressed. I found avoiding coffee, sugar, tobacco and alcohol (and stress) helped prevent them from reoccuring. I used a cotten swab to remove them and gargled with mouthwash. i also found a website that told me about tonsil health and recommended taking supplemnets of garlic, mullen and sage.